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Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles ♥ Freezer Recipe

June 30, 2009

A recipe from a reader, easy bread and butter pickles. No canning required, can be kept in the freezer for months!

Many thanks to an anonymous reader who left her recipe for bread and butter pickles a couple of years back. I actually made these late last fall -- although too late to share -- and then nibbled on them off and on throughout the winter.

The pickles are great -- crunchy but not too crunchy, sweet but not too sweet, 'pickly' but not too pickly. They are as simple to make as opening a jar -- well, almost. There's no canning required, just plop them into freezer containers.

I love having homemade pickles on hand. Call me silly but somehow a quick sandwich seems more like a meal when there are pickles alongside.

Bring the liquid ingredients to a boil, let cool a bit. Place the cucumbers and onions in a large crock or glass jar. Pour hot liquid over top. Weight the cucumbers to submerge in the liquid (see NOTES). If desired, add more cucumbers over the next day or so. Refrigerate and let stand for at least 24 hours after the last cucumbers are added. Transfer to freezer containers and freeze until ready to use.

KITCHEN NOTES Use the smallest pickling cucumbers you can find, otherwise they'll be full of seeds which aren't inedible but do affect the aesthetics of the pickles and don't agree with some digestive systems. Add about 7 cups of sliced cucumbers straight off. They'll shrink considerably so add more cucumbers the next day as room is made. For weighting the cucumbers, I used a small plate topped with an empty glass jar filled with water.

Hi there! We're having a 4th of July BBQ and these pickles just sounded like something I should do. So I have them in my fridge right now, but the liquid sure wasn't enough to cover the 7 C of cucumbers! But I just piled them all in anyway, mixed it all around, threw a plate on top for when they eventually shrink and called it a day. Since you say you can add more cucumbers the next day without reheating the mixture, I assume that my overfull bowl will be fine?

I love your site, I'm a recent member and love all the veggies. The zucchini and feta boats were my first veggie venture voyage and I've been sold ever since!

kirsten
on
July 02, 2009

talk to me about "large crock or glass jar" . . . . how big are we talking? Tupperware would not work? I'm trying to figure out what would fit in my fridge and my Pampered Chef lidded batter bowl (8 cups) seems like it would be too small for all of that liquid+solid. I am immersed in Amish Friendship Starter lately, so I am paying attention to glass vs ceramic vs plastic.

AmberGale ~ You're something, a woman of my own heart! They first batch of cucumbers have shrunk, right, leaving room for more? As I look back at the instructions, I'm wondering myself how 1 cup of liquid covers 7 cups of cucumbers. That's the problem with making/writing something several months before posting. PS Thanks for the kind words, they mean the world.

Kirsten ~ I wouldn't use Tupperware, no, for the pickling stage because it will ruin your tupperware, you want to use something that the vinegar won't soak into, something 'non reactive' as they say. Glass is the best bet, Corningware would work. I wouldn't use metal either. Have I answered your question? I hope! xo

Pille ~ Great question, I had to check, since I buy 'cheap' vinegar in big containers and transfer it to smaller bottles that fit in my cupboard. It looks like the 'standard' is 5%. So do you adjust by adding water, is that the trick? I'll start paying attention to this from now on.

Pickles are such a refreshing snack. We also love pickling green beans, as it allows us to capture that summer freshness in a jar. Here's a link for our pickled dilly beans. http://www.kitchencaravan.com/recipe/ellens-dilly-beans

I tried these at Irenes-- very good, and nice to not heat up the kitchen with canning.

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